10 SONGS: 3/17/2022

10 Songs is a weekly list of ten songs that happen to be on my mind at the moment. The lists are usually dominated by songs played on the previous Sunday night's edition of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl. The idea was inspired by Don Valentine of the essential blog I Don't Hear A Single.

This week's edition of 10 Songs draws exclusively from the playlist for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1120. 

THE FLASHCUBES: Do Anything You Wanna Do

I adored Eddie and the Hot Rods' original version of "Do Anything You Wanna Do." I bought the U.S. 45 in the Spring of 1978, when I was a freshman in college, and I picked up the corresponding Life On The Line LP pretty soon thereafter. It's one of my all-time top tracks, and it earns a spot in my eventual book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1).

But before I had or heard that single, I think I learned the song first via a live cover by the Flashcubes. 

The 'Cubes didn't record it until their 2003 album Brilliant, and I now regard their take on it as definitive (even as I continue to list Eddie and the Hot Rods in my top tracks and in GREM!, for the specific reason of 'cuz I say so). I've seen the Flashcubes perform it on many, many occasions, and I've seen the fabulous Tom Kenny sing it with the 'Cubes a number of times, too. They did it on stage at The Palace Theater when the Flashcubes were inducted into The SAMMYS (Syracuse Area Music Awards) Hall of Fame in 2014. They did it as part of their set at our BRIGHT LIGHTS! Syracuse new wave rock 'n' roll reunion party at Funk N' Waffles in 2016. Tom joined 'Cubes Gary Frenay and Arty Lenin for a show-closing, show-stoppin' rendition at The 443 Social Club and Lounge in 2019. And this year, when Tom hisself was inducted into The SAMMYS Hall of Fame, Kenny and the 'Cubes did it again at The SAMMYS extravaganza itself on March 4th.

So yes. Of course we opened this week's TIRnRR with "Do Anything You Wanna Do" by the Flashcubes. It's what we wanted to do. 

THE PALEY BROTHERS AND RAMONES: Come On Let's Go

As noted, the Flashcubes--Gary, Arty, Paul Armstrong, and duly deputized drummer Cathy LaManna--joined Tom Kenny at The SAMMYS, with Tom's collaborator Andy Paley--THE Andy Paley, a legend in pop circles--also plugging in and letting loose for the two songs they all performed together. After "Do Anything You Wanna Do," Tom told the story of seeing the Flashcubes play with the Ramones at a now-demolished Syracuse nightclub called Uncle Sam's. That would have been Friday, July 6th, 1979--yeah, I was there, too--and the live sets by the 'Cubes and the Ramones were preceded by a screening of the Ramones' then-new movie, Rock 'n' Roll High School. 

After that unforgettable evening at Uncle Sam's, Tom made a beeline for Gerber Music to snag a copy of the Rock 'n' Roll High School soundtrack LP. That album contained "Come On Let's Go" by the Paley Brothers and Ramones, which Tom referred to as the only time the Ramones ever backed up another artist on that artist's record. It's a fantastic, revved-up version of the Ritchie Valens classic, and a long-time Fave Rave of your Dana and your Carl. On stage at The SAMMYS, Tom asked Andy when he and his brother recorded the track. "1979," Paley replied. Tom then asked Andy when was the last time he had performed the song. "1979." *

Sure, you saw that coming. I don't care. All I know is, Andy Paley, Tom Kenny, and the Flashcubes then played the damned song before my widened eyes and eager ears. My God, my smile was as bright as the brightest lights. I don't really want to be 19 again--there is no amount of reward that could ever make me want to go through all of that mishegas again--but THAT moment, right there at The SAMMYS, was the best part of 19 brought back to life for a little over two minutes. Come on. Let's GO!

*Yeah, I know the single of "Come On Let's Go" came out in '78, the year before its appearance on the Rock 'n' Roll High School soundtrack LP. Just roll with us, man.

SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS: The Best Day Ever

After the Flashcubes finished their two numbers with Tom Kenny and Andy Paley, the 'Cubes exited the SAMMYS stage and Tom and Andy's bandmates in Tom Kenny and the Hi-Seas (including the vocal trio the Damselles) entered, intent on raisin' the roof with rockin' run-throughs of a few selections from Tom Kenny's virtual jukebox. A little soul. A little blues. A little rock 'n' roll. And, perhaps incongruously, a little SpongeBob Squarepants. Well, maybe not so much an incongruity, given that Tom is the voice of SpongeBob and that Tom and Andy co-wrote the SpongeBob ditty "The Best Day Ever." At The SAMMYS, Tom did the song in his character's voice, but the performance transcended schtick and was just flat-out fun. Rock 'n' roll can be fun. Don't let any random self-serious ninny ever try to tell you otherwise.

(Oh, but kudos to Channel 9 News, whose TV report on The SAMMYS could have chosen to show footage of the SpongeBob song, but instead used "Do Anything You Wanna Do," with reporter Christie Casciano talking about the "surprise reunion" of the Flashcubes, and [rightly] referring to the 'Cubes as legends. I love this town. Syracuse freakin' rules.)

POP CO-OP: Extra Beat In My Heart

The lads of the mighty Pop Co-Op--Steve Stoeckel, Bruce Gordon, Joel Tinnel, and Stacy Carson--have a new album due for release some time this year, and it will be Your Favorite Album Of 2022. The swell unreleased Stoeckel track "Extra Beat In My Heart" will not be on the album, so it was indeed an honor and a pleasure to be allowed the opportunity to play it on TIRnRR. We'll be hearing it again. Rest assured.

BOBBY LEWIS: Tossin' And Turnin'

When we decided to follow up SAMMYS weekend by mixing in a bunch of the songs we saw Tom Kenny and his various collaborators cover over the course of those two nights (at The SAMMYS and at a Tom Kenny and the Hi-Seas club show the next night), we figured we'd include most of the songs in the versions Tom had in his head: Larry Williams' "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" rather than the Beatles', the Music Explosion's "Little Bit O' Soul" rather than the Ramones', etc. We did cross over to Conway Twitty's "Got My Mojo Workin'" instead of Muddy Waters', and who can resist Paul Revere and the Raiders doing "Ooh Poo Pa Doo?" We're satisfied with the resulting blend.

I confess I did briefly consider playing Joan Jett's "Tossin' And Turnin'" in place of the Boibby Lewis hit, but who was I kidding? There's no substitute for the original here. We should toss it into the playlist more often.

CLUB WOW: Norman Green

In a world of underappreciated, obscure pop gems, this is even more obscure than most. I can't tell you much about Club Wow, except that they operated out of Cleveland in the '80s, and that the group included Frank Secich (of Blue Ash, and also guitarist with Stiv Bators' post-Dead Boys pop combo), Billy Sullivan, Frank West, and Jimmy Zero (who had been one of Stiv Bators' fellow Dead Boys). They released but one single, 1982's "Prettiest Girl"/"The Nights Are So Long," but recorded a short stack of demos that showed a hell a lot of promise. 

What little Club Wow material exists was collected in 2015 for a Zero Hour Records CD called Nowhere Fast. The highlight is an amazing, Who-influenced li'l sumpin called "Norman Green," a jagged slice of Mod power pop wailin' in the night for wider recognition. Norman Green has not been seen! Nor heard. Someone needs to remedy that.

BONNIE RAITT: Me And The Boys

I don't know the well-known to less-known ratio for Bonnie Raitt's cover of NRBQ's "Me And The Boys." It's a song I discovered via Dave Edmunds on his 1982 album D. E 7th; I didn't hear NRBQ until years later. In '82, when I was diggin' on D. E. 7th, a friend mentioned she thought she'd heard Joan Jett singing "Me And The Boys" on the radio; with four decades of hindsight at my disposal, I'm gonna guess my friend actually heard Bonnie Raitt instead.

I've yet to hear a bad version of "Me And The Boys"--we've also played a swell cover by Popdudes--and I'm neither prepared nor inclined to pick a favorite. Bonnie Raitt's is the one I feel like playing today.

SPEEDFOSSIL: Luckiest Man In The World

As I write this, I have just received an unexpected gift of a hard-to-find item that I really wanted but had given up on getting. And I received this gift for no other reason than because the generous person who gave it to me knows I'm a fan. That's it. It would not be appropriate for me to say any more publicly, especially about what the item is and who gave it to me. I'm just grateful. And I'm lucky.

Speedfossil's sprightly track "The Luckiest Man In The World" has nothing whatsoever to do with any of this. BUT! It's a simply wonderful track on its own merit, and I'm way into the idea of reveling in luck being good every once in a while. Lucky? That's me.

HOUSE OF SCHOCK: Middle Of Nowhere

A tip of the hat to John Tierney, who mentioned House Of Schock's 1988 left-of-the-dial pop triumph "Middle Of Nowhere" in a Facebook post last week, prompting us to throw it into the mix for our ongoing effort at radio alchemy. Gina Schock is primarily known as the drummer for the Go-Go's, and while I was kind of aware of House Of Schock (if not quite to my level of awareness of Charlotte Caffey in the Graces or Jane Wiedlin and Belinda Carlisle solo), I didn't have any tangible memory of the music. Thanks for the tip, John.

LANNIE FLOWERS: Where Did All The Fun Go

Where did all the fun go? I reject the question's central premise. The fun didn't go anywhere. It's still right here. And it's certainly thriving on the radio every Sunday night. Like it says several paragraphs north of here: Rock 'n' roll can be fun. Don't ever, ever let any random self-serious ninny tell you otherwise.

Fun can also serve a higher purpose. Big Stir Records (in partnership with SpyderPop Records) provided the public service of making Lannie Flowers' engaging Flavor Of The Month album available to funseekers everywhere. And Big Stir is standing tall on behalf of the beleaguered people of Ukraine in this time of crisis. If you'd like your pop music shopping to do a little bit of good in the world, go to Big Stir's United Help Ukraine Benefit Store, where 50% of all proceeds benefit United Help Ukraine humanitarian and medical aid. Big Stir has two new Ukraine benefit singles out on Friday, courtesy of the talents of the Incurables and Kai Danzberg. Fun as a weapon. Fun as a tool. Fun as a path forward. I approve of this message.

You can support this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon, or by visiting CC's Tip Jar. Additional products and projects are listed here.

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ You can read about our history here.

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl

THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO: A Premature Countdown (If The Year Ended Now)

Loyal listeners of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl know that we close out each year with a countdown show, playing back what we played a lot over the course of the preceding twelve months. Our intrepid stats man Fritz Van Leaven keeps track of whatever the hell it is we're doing, tabulates that fine mess, and ranks the tracks by the airplay they've accumulated.  Fritz has a tie-breaking mechanism in place to eliminate logjams at individual positions. We wind up with an epic countdown show each year, all thanks to Fritz. You can see the playlist for 2021's year-end countdown show here, and a list of our 58 most-played artists for 2021 here. 

But, just for fun, I started to wonder: what if we did our 2022 countdown show right now? We've only done...what? Eight shows so far this year? Yeah, we haven't repeated enough tracks to do a countdown show yet. But what the hell; using tiebreakers, we do have a Top 4:

1. THE RAMONES: I Can't Give You Anything

2. POP CO-OP: The Only Thing I Really Want

3. LANNIE FLOWERS: Good

4. WENDI DUNLAP: Season Of Loss

Bubbling under our mighty Top 4 for 2022, we have tracks by the Monkees (twice), Irene Peña, Orbis Max, Laurie Biagini, the Grip Weeds, the Zombies, the Flashcubes, the Flashcubes featuring Shoes, Jeremy, the Blusterfields, Anny Celsi, Lulu, Mike Browning, Lolas, the Bangles, Cheap Star, and Verdelle Smith. 

While it's a statement of the obvious, it's worth pointing out that this early countdown stat is meaningless. No tracks have accrued anywhere near enough airplay yet to be a lock for the actual countdown show next January. It's likely that some--maybe most-- of these fine songs may not make the countdown; it's even possible (if perhaps implausible) that none of them will make the countdown. 

But for now, for fun? It's a snapshot of where TIRnRR thinks it is and what this place looks like today. We'll keep building the countdown stats throughout the year, but your next public update will be after the 2022 countdown show airs in January. Are you ready, Fritz? Let's GO!!

You can support this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon, or by visiting CC's Tip Jar. 

Additional products and projects are listed here.This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ You can read about our history here.

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl

10 SONGS: 2/3/2022

10 Songs is a weekly list of ten songs that happen to be on my mind at the moment. The lists are usually dominated by songs played on the previous Sunday night's edition of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl. The idea was inspired by Don Valentine of the essential blog I Don't Hear A Single.

This week's edition of 10 Songs draws exclusively from the playlist for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1114.

THE VENTURES: Walk--Don't Run

As we age, there is a risk of TIRnRR playlists becoming the de facto Obituary of the Week. Time is the enemy. The passing of the Ventures' guitarist Don Wilson prompted me to wanna play a few Ventures tracks this week, opening the show with "Walk--Don't Run." I have a specific memory associated with that song, a memory I shared when we lost the Ventures' other guitarist Nokie Edwards in 2018:

In the late '80s, probably around '88 or so, the Ventures were scheduled to play at a bar located in a shopping center in Seneca Knolls, a suburban area north of Syracuse. In another manifestation of Syracuse's frustrating feast-or-famine existence, the Godfathers were elsewhere in Syracuse that same night, and the Bodeans were also appearing at yet another local venue. I wanted to see all three shows. But there was no real choice: I had to see the Ventures.

The Ventures were one of the most influential groups of the early '60s, and the most influential American instrumental rock 'n' roll combo. I can say that without denying the sheer magnificence of Dick Dale and the Del Tones or Link Wray, or the importance of the Shadows in England. I became a fan in the early '80s, via an oldies radio spin of "Walk--Don't Run." Riveted. There was no way I would or could pass up a chance to see the Ventures play live.

I don't remember the name of the bar. The floor in front of the stage had been garnished with sand, to conjure a beach party ambiance. Soon, the band was on stage. Nokie Edwards had left the group by then, so the Ventures I saw were the "Hawaii Five-O" line-up of Bob Bogle, Don Wilson, Gerry McGee, and Mel Taylor. The owner of the venue introduced, "The best fucking dance band in the world, THE VENTURES!!"

Enthusiastic applause, followed by something like a half-second pause for effect. Maybe a quarter-second. Maybe a full second or more. No time at all, but a seeming eternity, a tantalizing tease. You know what I mean. That brief moment when time stands still, when a performer or a group knows intuitively that he or she or they is about to claim you in full. A half-second. Quarter-second. Less than a tick, yet a sweet, enticing forever. Mel Taylor's drums rolled. That guitar intro.

The Ventures opened their show with "Walk--Don't Run."

The Ventures opened their show with "Walk--Don't Run!"

I've had the pleasure and good fortune to see a lot of terrific shows, from the Kinks to the Ramones to Paul McCartney. No one grabbed me from the get-go better than the Ventures did.

DAVID RUFFIN: Don't Stop Lovin' Me

I've recently been in serious thrall to David, the originally unreleased 1971 album by former Temptations singer David Ruffin. "Don't Stop Lovin' Me" is one of the few David tracks that was issued in its day, serving as the B-side to "Each Day Is A Lifetime" (a track which also would have been on David, if there had been a David). I remain puzzled by Motown's decision to consign the album to the vaults. Great, great record, and we'll hear another of its tracks on next week's TIRnRR.

LOLAS: My Thoughts Have Been Replaced

Following several years of scattered Dana & Carl radio shows in varied incarnations, 1999 was This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio's first full year on the air. Lolas' debut album Ballerina Breakout was released in late '99, but it immediately became my favorite album of the year. Its track "The Best Part" became the first of many Lolas songs played on TIRnRR over the years, and we're delighted to add Lolas' latest to our little Play-Tone Galaxy of Stars. The new album All Rise was a digital-only release in 2021, and it's now available in physical (i.e., real) form courtesy of our friends at Kool Kat Musik. Of course we played it this week! Good stuff, then and now.

BRAM TCHAIKOVSKY: Breaking Down The Walls Of Heartache

Our playlists are affected by our listeners. I don't mean just in terms of requests, but also in reading their comments and developing an understanding of what they dig. One such listener is Joel Tinnel, guitarist for the way fab Pop Co-Op. I don't think it's much--maybe any--exaggeration to say that either Dana or I pick at least one track each week with the specific goal of landing within Joel's rockin' pop wheelhouse. We aims t'please. Joel has good taste, so we figure a song that Joel likes has better'n even odds of enhancing whatever the hell it is we do here.

Joel has expressed his interest in the music of Bram Tchaikovsky, the late '70s/early '80s British act (BT the name of both the band and its frontman) best known for the pop classic "Girl Of My Dreams." When we played the Bandwagon's Northern soul essential "Breaking Down The Walls Of Heartache" a few years back, it was Joel who pointed out that Bram Tchaikovsky covered the song on his/their third and final studio album, 1981's Funland. This week, that version finally made its belated TIRnRR debut. For Joel! The playlist benefits from an understanding of what our listeners like. Thanks again, Joel.

THE JAM: Monday

In the early '80s, I absolutely worshipped the Jam. Setting Sons had become one of my all-time favorite albums, and I likewise adored its successor Sound Affects. And yet, in our current far-future world of the 21st century, I had completely forgotten about the sublime Sound Affects album track "Monday" until Dana selected it for this week's radio extravaganza. Thanks, Dana!

THE 5TH DIMENSION: Aquarius/Let The Sun Shine In (The Flesh Failures)

The effect of listeners again, though this one was an actual request from intrepid TIRnRR fan Dominique King. Thanks, Dominique! Mystic crystal revelation, the mind's true liberation.

BUCK OWENS AND HIS BUCKAROOS: Who's Gonna Mow Your Grass

"Who's Gonna Mow Your Grass" wasn't a request this week, but I first learned of this superswell Buck Owens number because a listener named Elma Tiran (whom we've since dubbed Sparky) wanted us to play it on the show a few years ago. Ever your rock 'n' roll radio customer service specialists, we tracked it down, loved its vibrant application of Beatlisms and fuzz guitar to the C & W Bakersfield Beat, and it became a TIRnRR perennial in short order. Thanks, Sparky!

THE CLICK BEETLES: Goodbye Margot

This ace new track from the glory, the splendor, and the wonder of the Click Beetles initially slipped right by us because, well, um...SQUIRREL!! Times are tough, so we can't afford to pay attention. Rich Firestone of Radio Deer Camp (heard Sunday afternoons from 5 to 7 Eastern, right here on SPARK!) was the first to give "Goodbye Margot" the radio love it deserves, and we're always eager to copy our Reechie and his Radio Deer Camp brilliance. Thanks, Rich!

"Goodbye...?!" But I wanna listen to Rich Firestone on Radio Deer Camp!

CHRIS CHURCH: Pillar To Post

LANNIE FLOWERS: Good

While each week's 10 Songs is built in large part from songs released in years (and decades) gone by, we always, always play new and/or recent irresistibles right alongside our cherished and familiar gems. I mean, would it be TIRnRR if we didn't play something from the Big Stir Records label? Hyperbole is its own reward. We love Big Stir, there's at least one Big Stir release in nearly every weekly playlist, and that trend may never end. 

Our current Big Stir obsessions are Darling Please by Chris Church and Flavor Of The Month by Lannie Flowers. We played tracks from each on last week's show, and different tracks from each on this week's show. You can't have great radio unless you play great records. Big Stir releases great records, and so we play 'em as part of our ongoing effort to slap together great radio. Thanks, Big Stir. Thank you, listeners. Let's play.

You can support this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon, or by visiting CC's Tip Jar. Additional products and projects are listed here.

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ You can read about our history here.

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl

10 SONGS: 1/27/2022

10 Songs is a weekly list of ten songs that happen to be on my mind at the moment. The lists are usually dominated by songs played on the previous Sunday night's edition of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl. The idea was inspired by Don Valentine of the essential blog I Don't Hear A Single.

This week's edition of 10 Songs draws exclusively from the playlist for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1113.

RONNIE SPECTOR AND THE E STREET BAND: Say Goodbye To Hollywood

A listener once joked that the only way Billy Joel would get airplay on TIRnRR would be via Ronnie Spector and the E Street Band's fantastic cover of our Billy's "Say Goodbye To Hollywood." We actually have played Billy Joel a few times, and I wouldn't rule out playing him again when the whim strikes. 

But yeah, we clearly have played Ronnie's version of "Say Goodbye To Hollywood" more than we've played all other Billy Joel songs combined. As the pop world mourns her passing, it seemed a given that we should close this week's show with the Ronettes' "Be My Baby," open with "Say Goodbye To Hollywood," and thread more Ronnie Spector performances throughout the playlist. 

THE BLUSTERFIELDS: January Jones

It's no shade against the music of the Blusterfields--whose new album The Vicious Afterglow is really good--to confess that their song "January Jones" appears on this week's 10 Songs in part because it gives me an excuse to post a picture of the actress who shares that name.

What was Don Draper thinking? Anyway, the song's great, too. More Blusterfields to come on future playlists.

CHRIS CHURCH: We're Going Downtown

Chris Church's 2011 album Darling Please was originally kind of a stealth release, but it's just been given a fresh shine and a factory-fresh spotlight. Yes, it's another public service from Big Stir Records, bless 'em. More! Please?

RONNIE SPECTOR [with JOEY RAMONE]: You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory

The combined forces of the Ramones and producer Phil Spector did not create a match in Heaven. On the other hand, Ronnie Spector and Joey Ramone were a good fit. Ronnie had covered Joey's Ramones ballad "Here Today Gone Tomorrow" on her 1980 album Siren, and Joey produced her 1999 EP She Talks To Rainbows. The EP's title tune was one of two more Ramones covers on the record (along with "Bye Bye Baby"), which also featured Ronnie's version of the Beach Boys' "Don't Worry Baby" and a remake of the Ronettes' "I Wish I Never Saw The Sunshine." Joey provided backing vocals for a cover of Johnny Thunders' tough/tender lament "You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory." Perfect match all around. 

WENDI DUNLAP: Baby Blue

As often as I talk (sincerely!) about an infinite number of tracks each being THE greatest record ever made as long as they take turns, my own all-time # 1 favorite is probably Badfinger's "Baby Blue." I mean, on the days that it's not something by the Beatles or the Kinks or...skip it. It ain't easy for an artist to cover a song that's already perfect, but Wendi Dunlap manages a rendition of "Baby Blue" that's compelling on its own merit. The track is available on this free-for-nothing-gratis compilation album, a gift from the good folks at Futureman Records.

RONNIE SPECTOR: Something's Gonna Happen

Ah, curse whatever random mix of personal cluelessness and general obscurity kept this release outside of my awareness for so damned long. In the very late '80s, maybe into the early '90s, Ronnie Spector recorded a handful of tracks with every pop fan's pal Marshall Crenshaw. Working with Crenshaw and his combo, Spector cut five Crenshaw songs--"Something's Gonna Happen," "Favorite Waste Of Time," "For His Love," "Whenever You're On My Mind," and "Communication"--but the world at large wasn't interested. The tracks remained unreleased until 2003. 

Stupid, stupid world at large.

This is a magnificent little treasure trove of stirring pop music. If only this had gotten some traction at the time, prompting a full-length album by Ronnie, MC and company, we would all have a cherished memory of what would have been one of the best albums of the '90s. But it wasn't to be.

Nonetheless: it should have been. If you don't have the eventual Something's Gonna Happen EP, I must humbly recommend you remedy that ASAP. What a record. And what a missed opportunity.

LANNIE FLOWERS: Don't Make Me Wait

A new collection of tunes from Lannie Flowers! The partnership between Big Stir Records and SpyderPop Records has already yielded a wealth of maximumYEAH! for rockin' pop fans. Big Stir has given wider release for previous SpyderPop albums (like Danny Wilkerson's TIRnRR Fave Rave Wilkerson, represented on this week's radio extravaganza by the irresistible "Let It Go Tonight"), and BSR and SPR have pooled resources on behalf of new stuff, too.

Lannie's long-awaited new album Flavor Of The Month gathers remixed versions of the digital-only singles Lannie released prior to his 2019 album Home. The new album was cleared for airplay just in time for this week's shindig, so over the wireless it went. Fantastic stuff, and another invigmoratin' product of the partnership between SypderPop and Big Stir.

THE RONETTES: He Did It

With "Be My Baby" set as this week's finale, and with spins of the Ronettes' "Walking In The Rain" and "Baby, I Love You" programmed elsewhere in the playlist, we still wanted to include one more Ronettes track. We opted for "He Did It," a 1965 release on the Colpix label. I'm pretty sure the track is older than its release date, presumably recorded before Ronnie, Estelle Bennett, and Nedra Talley got involved with, y'know...that guy. The murderer. Good enough for us! Who needs a wall of sound when you've got Ronnie Spector?

RONNIE SPECTOR: I'll Follow The Sun

Former hitmakers forsaken by the record biz often find themselves recording remakes of their own material and/or covers of other hitmakers' material. Ronnie Spector's 2016 album English Heart offers the fabulous Veronica interpreting some 1960s sides previously done by British acts the Dave Clark Five, the Zombies, Lulu, Sandie Shaw, the Kinks, the Fortunes, the Animals, Gerry and the Pacemakers, and the Bee Gees, plus the lesser-known "I'd Much Rather Be With The Girls," a song the Rolling Stones gave away. My initial impression of the record wasn't terribly enthusiastic, but I owe it another spin to see if it rings in better with repetition. 

I do like Ronnie's English Heart cover of the Beatles' "I'll Follow The Sun." Maybe it was just because I heard it for the first time shortly after Ronnie had passed, but it seems a sad and touching moment, a moving farewell as we bid her goodbye. 

THE RONETTES: Be My Baby

Boom-boomboom-chuk-boom-boomboom-chuck Godspeed, Ronnie Spector.

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This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ You can read about our history here.

The many fine This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio compilation albums are still available, each full of that rockin' pop sound you crave. A portion of all sales benefit our perpetually cash-strapped community radio project:

Volume 1: download
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Volume 3: download
Volume 4: CD or download
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I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl